Rangers homer eight times to punish Astros

Published: Sunday, May 22, 2005

AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

ARLINGTON (AP) - David Dellucci led off a record-setting game for the Texas Rangers with - what else - a home run.

Mark Teixeira hit a three-run shot to highlight a club-record, four-homer second inning, and Dellucci had two of the Rangers' team-high eight home runs in an 18-3 rout of the Houston Astros on Saturday.

"Eight-homer games don't happen very often," said Dellucci, who went 3-for-4. "We got a fast start and they were just coming in bunches. Hopefully, we saved a few for tomorrow and down the road."

Rod Barajas, Hank Blalock and Laynce Nix connected in the second, and Richard Hidalgo and Kevin Mench also homered to help the Rangers top their previous best of seven, accomplished in 1986 and 2003.

All four second-inning homers and the Rangers' eight runs - Texas' season high for runs in an inning - came with two outs.

Barajas homered first off Astros rookie Ezequiel Astacio (0-3), beginning a streak of eight straight Rangers to reach base. Walks to Dellucci and Michael Young set up Teixeira's ninth homer.

"We've done it in the past and we broke out today," Teixeira said. "It's good for our confidence to put a lot of runs on the board. We had some good at-bats today. We started hot and built from there. It was contagious."

Blalock, who went 4-for-5 and drove in four runs, followed with his seventh homer and Mench had an RBI double to knock out Astacio. Nix added a solo shot off reliever Chad Harville to extend the Rangers' lead to 10-0.